Thoughts from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) exhibition represents a significant event in the life of a PYP school and student, synthesizing the essential elements of the PYP and sharing them with the whole school community.  As a culminating experience it is an opportunity for students to exhibit the attributes of the International Baccalaureate (IB) learner profile that have been developing throughout their engagement with the PYP.  (IB Exhibition guidelines)

This week we celebrated the Year 6 students' IBPYP Exhibition.  The students have worked for many weeks unpacking and exploring their passions.  With the support of the Year 6 Teachers - Mr Snell, Ms Riemer, Mr Withington - and their mentors, the students have inquired, researched and presented a variety of areas they have investigated.  The Exhibition was officially opened on Wednesday evening by the Head of School, Mr Sherwood followed by two wonderful stage presentations by James Grey and Jessica Cunningham. Parents and teachers enjoyed listening to the students explain their displays and share their passions.

On Thursday and Friday, the Exhibition was open to other Chatsworth primary and secondary students and staff, as well as to other schools in the area.  OFS, ISS and our East Campus all enjoyed participating in the event.  The Exhibition will also be open to the public during the School Fair on Saturday 28 February.

Thank you to all of you who have supported our learning community.  Please do drop by the school hall and share in the Year 6 Exhibition.

Enjoy this week's pictures!

Mario Gauci

Head of Primary

From the PYP Coordinator

Coming up later in March is one of the ways we use to share and celebrate the students learning here at Chatsworth. This will be in the form of a Three Way Conference - a time when the teacher, parents and student can come together and share in the development of the child.

“Three way conferences at Chatsworth provides a meaningful opportunity to share, celebrate and enhance the student's learning journey.” Three Way Conference Central Idea, Chatsworth International School 2015

It’s a time when a conversation can happen between the parent, teacher and student. Where the student has an opportunity to share with their parents, together with the teacher supporting him or her, their growth and development as a learner. All three can sit together and talk about the students learning by looking at and discussing a range of the student’s work.

Three way conferences make sure that the focus is on the student and the very important role they have in the conversation. Deciding the next steps in their own learning and for those who are supporting the student to help them self reflect through dialogue and asking questions.

We hope you will be able to join, share and enjoy in this experience as much as you child.

Alex Inman
PYP Coordinator

Week 25 of Primary Weekly Correspondence

Here is the following correspondence from Primary Office this week;

Primary Correspondence

• Our next House Day is Friday March 6. The JYP house event will be 'Cats and Mice'.The EYP house event will be 'Posties and Mailboxes'. Our learner profile attribute to be high listed at our assembly is risk taker. Please remember to wear your house colours and show your school spirit! 
• March Lunch Menu
• Parent Cafe - 2nd March 2015 - Visible thinking and how it promotes inclusion
• Annual Chatsworth Secondary Art Show
• Library closure and return of library books for Primary

Malissa Rahman

Primary Admin

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Thoughts from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

Creativity seems to emerge from multiple experiences, coupled with a well-supported development of personal resources, including a sense of freedom to venture beyond the known. Loris Malaguzzi

The focus of this week's blog is about our K2 classes.   K2 is led by Mrs. Sue Deely, Ms. Ayeshah Tahirah, and Ms. Heidi Steinbring together with their teaching assistants Ms. Sha, Mrs. Zahida and Ms. Jaslin.  The K2s have been investigating how their imagination helps them to create and express themselves. When you have a peek into a K2 class, the environment is rich in learning engagements where the children engaged in creative play experiences make real connections to their world.  "The environment is the essential piece in creating educational experiences fostering creativity in a social, collaborative context." (Green, Eckhoff, Rosenblith and Walker 2009) This unit culminated in a magnificent assembly displaying their creativity and individuality.

Next week is a short week, so I take this opportunity to wish all of you who celebrate this festival Gong Xi Fa Cai.  Safe travels for those of you who will be holidaying and we look forward to continuing the excellent teaching and learning program after the new year.

Enjoy today's assembly photos.

Mario Gauci

Head of Primary

From the PYP Coordinator

Knowledge is one of the five fundamental curriculum areas know as Essential Elements.

This is of course the actual content of the programme, what is it that we are looking to teach in our school through the units of inquiry? What is it that we want students to know about?

The knowledge aspect of the curriculum here at Chatsworth is delivered through our transdisciplinary units of inquiry. Our Kindergarten classes have 4 units then moving into 6 units of inquiry for our Year level classes.

The units bring in the traditional subject areas of mathematics, languages, science, social studies, the arts and personal, social and physical education together in a transdisciplinary environment - showing the students the interrelatedness of the subject areas.

"The PYP aims to create a curriculum that is engaging, relevant, challenging and significant for learners in the 3-12 age range. The curriculum is transdisciplinary, meaning that it focuses on issues that go across subject areas." IB Website 2015

Our units are arranged under transdisciplinary themes, which are the same for every year group, although they may be taught in a different order through the school year.

• Who We Are
• Where We Are in Time & Place
• How We Express Ourselves
• How the World Works
• How We Organize Ourselves
• How We Share the Planet

We will have a look in a later post in more detail as to what each transdisciplinary theme represents.

Alex Inman

PYP Coordinator

Week 23 of Primary Weekly Correspondence

Here is the following correspondence from Primary Office this week;

Primary Correspondence

• We are ushering in the Year of the Goat with a Lion Dance performance to bring in good luck and prosperity!  The performance will be held at our school astro turf on Tuesday, 17th February 2015, and will start at 9.15 am sharp.  

  We encourage children to come  dressed in traditional Chinese clothes or Chinese colours (red, gold, orange or yellow).  If your child has PE  on that day, please bring in their PE attire for them to change into later for their lesson.

  Looking forward to celebrate the Lunar New Year and the children dressing up in bright coloured clothes!  

  Gong Xi Fa Cai!

• The Chatsworth 20th Anniversary School Musical is being performed next Tuesday 17th February at Raffles Jubilee Hall (3rd Floor Raffles Hotel closest to New Bridge Road entrance). 'Ali Baba and the Fourteen Thieves' takes us to magical Arabia.

  
  
  

  You can join us in a Musical Pantomime about talking Camels, an evil Caliph, A handsome hero, a clever storyteller, a smart servant girl with great songs and dances and fourteen nefarious thieves!

  
  
  

  Tickets are available from Reception. $15.00 for students (toddlers are free) $20.00 for adults. We hope to fill Raffles with a happy audience and inspire you with fun and energy.

  
  
• Orchard School Fair 28 February 2015 Poster

• Orchard Campus to Remain Open Past 2017

Malissa Rahman

Primary Admin

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Thoughts from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

A look into Year 5...

Our Year 5 teaching team Ms Emily Mclean, Ms Maggie Dawson and Mr. Michale Jarvis Luchesi are a fun creative team where students are involved in a variety of learning experiences. Their current unit under Sharing the planet, investigating this central idea: An ecosystem is a community of organisms interacting with one another and their environment. Students have researched ecosystems and how their different organisms have adapted to the different systems; looked at the relationship between the different elements of an ecosystem; and what the consequences are of any imbalance between the ecosystems. This week as I have wandered around the Year 5 classes talking with students, it is clear that they understand the interconnectedness of the systems.  Students are busy creating websites for information distribution, painting features of  ecosystems and preparing displays of information.  Exploring the concept of connection through the poem "I come from..." further developed the notion of how one thought or idea can be connected to many others.  The students are excited and enthusiastic about their learning.

During art class, the students explored research articles on food and nutrition and illustrated their ideas firstly in draft form and then using paints, water colours or crayons.  

Some of the snapshots of the week:

Mario Gauci

Head of Primary 

From the PYP Coordinator

The students in Year 6 are currently in the process of completing their Student Exhibition. This is a time of the year when our students who are soon due to graduate the Primary Years Programme, instead of following one of the regular units of inquiry the students will embark on their own central idea and lines of inquiry. This involves pulling together all aspects of the PYP which will then culminate in each student representing what they have been inquiring into expressed through the student Exhibition.

The students begin the process by identifying where their passions lay, what is it that they are really motivated by? A series of discussions, research and tailoring of ideas will the result in the students writing their own central ideas, questions and lines of inquiry which will drive their exhibition process over the coming weeks. They are supported by all of the staff in school and also by any experts we may have in our community and also in the wider world; Skype interviews to different countries not being uncommon! Finally the students will hopefully have identified action they will take as a result of their inquiry.

So please come along and support the students on the 26th and the 27th of this month in the main hall and see what they have achieved!

Self Study Questionnaire
As part of our upcoming evaluation visit by the International Baccalaureate in November this year, we would like to ask parents to participate in our self study process. If you could spare 10 minutes to help us by completing this questionnaire it would be very much appreciated.

PYP Self Study Questionnaire here

Alex Inman
PYP Coordinator

Week 22 of Primary Weekly Correspondence

Here is the following correspondence from Primary Office this week;

Primary Correspondence

          Welcome to the Phoenix Times!

• Welcome to our student newspaper, the Phoenix Times! We have loved watching the evolution of this newspaper over time, in both content and design / layout. The Phoenix Times is a joint project of Primary and Secondary, and is printed several times per year. Copies are available around campus at publication time, and will always be available on this page on our website as well. We would like to extend our thanks to teacher sponsors Mr Jozef Bendik, Mr Ericson Gutierrez, and Ms Alison Crosbie for supporting these publications.

• Year 6 Student Exhibition Evening

• Please take a few minutes to complete this survey for us Parent Survey. It helps us to understand how you feel about the school and assists us in areas of strength and areas needing particular attention.

Malissa Rahman

Primary Admin

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